Carmen Electra & Dave Navarro Talk 'Almost Every Day'

A year after splitting with husband Dave Navarro, Baywatch star Carmen Electra is romantically uninvolved – but staying close to her rocker ex.

"We talk on the phone all the time, almost every day," Electra told PEOPLE at Wednesday's 15th annual ESPY Awards in Hollywood. "It's been great because we've been able to stay friends."

She says it makes perfect sense to remain close to her former flame, with whom she starred on the MTV reality show Til Death Do Us Part. "We were friends to begin with. Why wouldn't you want to stay friends with someone that you share such a big part of your life with?"

And the pair are not shy about their affection for each other. Last month, Electra and Navarro were photographed hugging and talking at A Time for Heroes benefit in Westwood. The two came separately but shared a quiet conversation and held hands.

Shortly after their split last July, she denied rumors that she'd gone on a date with Jamie Foxx. The couple's divorce was finalized in February.

Of her love life, Electra told PEOPLE in March, "Everything's been going really good ... I'm not so much about going out out so much anymore. To me, I get more excited to stay home. But I should probably get out a little bit more!"

Meanwhile, Electra, a two-time divorcee, is reconnecting with her youth. At the ESPY Awards, she showed off her new chocolate hair color (for an upcoming movie) reminiscent of her adolescence, she says: "I had dark hair through high school. It's a big change, but in a way, I kind of feel like I did then!"